“That’s hardly a fair test!”
“So you say. In any event, I’m afraid I must return to our guests. I don’t doubt that there are a dozen people that I must speak to, or risk offending someone I shouldn’t have.” Kara disentangled her arm from Geran’s, and then reached up to kiss him on the cheek. With a small breath for courage, Kara descended the stair and rejoined the crowd below, heading to Natali’s rescue; the young harmach and her mother Erna were surrounded by a dozen noble guests from neighboring realms.
Geran paused on the balcony, enjoying the sight of so many familiar faces in the room below—commonborn Hulburgans like Brun and Halla Osting, young Kardin Ilkur, Burkel Tresterfin and his family, and the militia captain Nils Wester, all proud heroes of the Restoration; the secretary Anton Quillon, Kolton, the old chamberlain Dostin Hillnor, and a dozen more retainers of the family Hulmaster; Kendurkkel Ironthane, nodding at the music as he smoked his pipe; Sarth dressed in resplendent robes, laughing softly with Nimessa Sokol as they shared some jest or another; Hamil, who held half-a-dozen children including Kirr and Selsha spellbound with some ridiculous tale as he winked at a lovely halfling woman Geran recognized as a lady-in-waiting to the Marmarathens of Thentia; and there, not far from Hamil and his captivated audience, Mirya Estenwold, her long black hair—unbraided, Geran observed—a river of midnight that fell past her shoulders. As if she sensed his eyes on her, she looked up over her shoulder, and their eyes met. She smiled up at him, a warm and open smile that he’d come to love more than the rising of the sun or the stars in the sky.
He straightened up from the rail and descended into the crowd, never taking his eyes from her, as she slipped through the crowd to meet him. When they met, he couldn’t help himself; he caught her by her shoulders and pulled her close to kiss her soundly. She leaned into him for a long moment before she pulled away, blushing. “Now you’d better stop that, Geran Hulmaster,” she said. “Acting in such a way in front of all these good people! What will they think of you?”
“That I’m a very fortunate man, I hope,” he answered. In fact they had a surprising moment of privacy in the middle of the revel, as most of the people around them were straining for a look at Natali and Kara, and weren’t paying much attention to the two of them. “You’ve been keeping a secret from me.”
“I suppose Kara’s told you, then.” Mirya glanced at the regent, and sighed. “I’m not at all sure I’m the right person for the job. And I’ll have to hire someone to look after Erstenwold’s for me, since I can’t very well manage the store and look after the Tower’s purse at the same time.”
“You don’t know how strong you are, Mirya. You’ll do fine.”
She gave him a grateful look. “What are you going to do now that you’re not the Lord Hulmaster any longer?”
“Oh, I’ll be helping Kara as I can. But mostly I hope to be looking after you and Selsha.”
“You think I need looking after?” she asked, and a hint of fire flickered in her eyes.
“I know you don’t, Mirya. But I know that I need you.” He took her hands in his and gazed into her face, hoping that she could see what was in his heart, everything that was in his heart. “I asked you a question a few tendays ago, and you never answered me. Will you have me for your husband, Mirya?”
Mirya stood still as a statue, staring at him. “You still want to marry me? Even after what Rhovann made me do?”
“Yes, I do,” he said. “With all my heart I do.”
Mirya tried to speak, and stopped herself. Then, almost as if she didn’t expect to hear it herself, she whispered, “Yes.”
Geran found himself grinning like a fool. “Yes? You said yes?”
She laughed, and nodded her head. “I said yes!” she cried, and flung her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply.
They stood, lost in each other, until Geran became aware of a tremendous roar and shouts of approval all around them. He looked up and realized that the great crowd had finally noticed the two of them. Commoners, Shieldsworn, merchants, noble guests, all beamed and applauded for Mirya and him. Kara laughed aloud in delight, and clapped along with the rest.
A short distance away, Hamil grinned at him. About time you got around to that, the halfling told him. What in the world were you waiting for, anyway? “Lord Geran! Lady Mirya!” he shouted, and the crowd took up the cry. “Lord Geran! Lady Mirya!”
Beside Hamil, Selsha jumped up and down in delight. Mirya smiled at her daughter and held out her arm; like a dark-haired bolt of lightning Selsha bounded over and threw herself into her mother’s side, hugging Mirya and Geran both. “Mama! Geran! Is it true?” she said. “Are you getting married? When? When?”
Geran glanced at Mirya, and they shared a smile. He reached down to hug Selsha back. “Soon,” he said. “Soon, I promise you.”
Then, to the wild cheers of the hundreds in the hall, he took Mirya in his arms and kissed her again.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, I’d like to say thank you to my editors, Susan Morris and Phil Athans. Susan’s been in the trenches with me for almost three years now on Blades of the Moonsea, and she’s really helped me to make a better story out of these books.
In January of 2009, just as I was starting on the first draft of Avenger, my neighborhood was struck by a serious flood from the White River. An unbelievable number of people showed up to help out. Total strangers whose homes weren’t anywhere near the flood turned out to fill sandbags. Home Depot’s teams dewatered our crawlspace (and many others) at no charge. A Boy Scout troop cleared debris out of our yard. Friends of ours from church—especially Chris Zabriskie, Joe Hochwalt, Leah Barfoot, Cynthia Schmidt, and Brad Beeman—helped us to pack up an immensely overstuffed and flooded garage and clear it for repairs, and took in our golden retriever for several days. I’ve never been on the receiving end of any kind of disaster (even a little one like the Pacific flood), and I was just amazed by the energy and enthusiasm of the people who simply saw the need to help. My sincere thanks to all of you!
Last, but not least, it takes about two and a half years of intermittent writing to put a trilogy like Blades of the Moonsea together. For me, that’s a lot of evenings and weekends, and the occasional stint of burning some vacation time to stay home and work on it full time. It’s a marathon, and there have been times I’ve felt like I’ve hit The Wall. The support and encouragement of my family and my friends helped me out more than once. Thanks to everyone who’s had my back on this one—especially my ever-patient, ever-understanding wife. Guess it’s my turn to do the dishes now.
Blades of the Moonsea
Book III
AVENGER
©2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Published by Wizards of the Coast LLC
FORGOTTEN REALMS, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries.
Cover art by Raymond Swanland
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Baker, Richard (Lynn Richard)
Avenger / by Richard Baker.
p. cm. – (Blades of the Moonsea ; bk. 3)
eISBN: 978-0-7869-5751-4
I. Title.
PS3602.A587A96 2010
813′.6–dc22
2009046407
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